“My eyes fail, looking for Your salvation, looking for Your righteous promise.” -Psalm 119:123

This is the lowest point in the octave. Our afflictions or disappointments overwhelm us to the point where we can’t think straight on what is true. Our faith may shrink but does not evaporate. The psalmist is still praying, still pleading to the Lord even though he does not sense His Presence. God is always actively at work in His children, and in the affairs of men. Puritan Richard Baxter comments on God’s mysterious providence. When we stand in Heaven, looking back on how our lives played out here on earth, if we still can’t understand God’s infinite wisdom, we can surely rest in His eternal goodness toward us:

“The Lord had a sweeter purpose and meant better than you would believe. Your Redeemer was saving you as much when He crossed your desires as when He granted them, and He was saving you when He broke your heart as much as when He bound it up.”

Our earthly eyes will fail us since we are finite creatures, with limited understanding to only what is seen. May God give us grace to have heavenly eyes of faith to comprehend the unseen, but very real spiritual warfare marching over the face of the earth. The angels in Heaven are clashing against Satan’s demonic forces in real time, each and every day. So when you and I are in despair, let us look up. Who is in Heaven? Who gives Satan any authority to speak of? Who allows the wicked to roam the earth for a set time? Who is longsuffering like God, not wishing any of His image-bearers to perish in Hell? Who died on the cross for redeemed sinners? Look to Jesus and ask Him to give you an eternal perspective. The story does not end here, it begins here. When we see things as God does we can be at peace, remembering He is in control and has never lost control over Heaven and Earth. On this particular verse Matthew Henry writes, “Though our eyes fail, yet God’s word does not, and therefore those that build upon it, though now discouraged, shall in due time see his salvation.” The battle is in the King’s Hands, His promises sure. We have certain victory over our enemies.

Help us, Father, in our weaknesses, fears and doubts that threaten to snatch up what has been planted inside of us. We have this treasure in but jars of clay. Be our Deliverer day by day until we see Christ face to face. 

Grace upon grace,

April

Growing deeper: Revelation 20-22

‘We will feast in the House of Zion’

This is a newer song I’m not as familiar with. Yet since I first heard it, it is one of the songs I wake up thinking about. What we have to look forward to in Glory far outweighs this fleeting life. The first few lines of this song are a sweet reminder of this: “We will feast in the House of Zion, we will sing with our hearts restored. He has done great things, we will say together: We will feast and weep no more!”